More than China and India

Antoine van Agtmael argues in the current issue of Foreign Policy that there are a considerable number of companies in emerging markets that deserve world-class status, largely because of their skills in innovation. Some examples:

• Samsung spends more on R&D than Intel and made more money than Dell in 2005. It is now the market leader in semiconductors and flat-screen monitors
  
• Cemex from Mexico is the second largest cement company in the US and the third largest in the world.
• Gazprom has a larger market capitalization than Microsoft and has more gas reserves than all the major oil companies combined.
• Our steel companies have turned to South Korea to modernize their plants.
• New drugs, rather than generics, are now being produced in Slovenia and India.
• Fifty-eight of the Fortune 500 call an emerging market country home.

He makes his point. The question is what are we going to do about it?